Documentary
Duration : 52 '
Support : Digital Betacam - stereo - 16/9 - 4/3
Originale version : French
Available version : English
Director
: Thierry Berrod - Quincy Russel
Production : Mona Lisa - France 2 - France 5 -
Discovery International - IRD - CNRS Images Media
CANNIBAL MITES
At night our mattresses become a community, teeming with a multitude of mites. They sometimes fight and devour each other. Some are predators, other pray, still other scavengers, thriving on dead skin. Looking like aliens, these parasites adapt to all elements : earth, air and even water. If some mites are notorious for causing disease and allergies, others are extremely beneficial.
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POLICE MITES Mites are auxiliary policemen. By their presence and development phase they pinpoint the hour of a victim’s death, providing precious clues before a full autopsy. |
THE WORLD OF INVISIBLE LIFE : x 25,000
For the first time, state of the art electronic microscopy technologies show us what has been invisible up until now.
| MITES AS A BUSINESS
Glenn is the world’s largest producer of
killer mites, dispatching This
is a high growth business. But these new domestic pets are difficult
to raise and a kilo of mites costs 100 times more than a kilo
of gold ! |
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CHEESE-MAKER MITES In the central highlands of France the Auvergne - Cheese- mites are called the cheese-makers. Locals say that God sent them to earth to keep gourmets happy. They give cheeses an incomparable savour to such an extent that in olden times they were eaten for breakfast, spread on bread. In just 40 days, a single pair of mites has nearly 100 000 grand-children ! |
" Almost unsupportable. Sensitive souls stay well away…
…Thierry Berrod has worked miracles to reveal to us these infinately
small monsters - the mites…
…in this horror documentary otherwise more impressive than a film
such as Jurassic Park, we see them in massive numbers upon our skin, copulating,
defecating and proliferating. "
Le Monde - 3rd May
1999